ARM income, revenues rise

Q4 figures posted

ARM's growth trend continued unabated during the last three months of 2004, with revenues and income up sequentially and year on year.

Q4 revenues totalled £41.5m, up five per cent on the previous quarter's £39.4m and 22 per cent higher than the year-ago quarter's total, £34m.

ARM's key licensing and royalty streams grew to £16.2m and £16.3m from £14.6m and £16m, respectively, in the previous quarter. The company heralded the signing of 19 new chip IP licences in Q4, a number of them with four new licensees. Royalty-bearing unit shipments reached a record 367m parts, up 7.6 per cent from Q3's 341m units.

Before tax, ARM made £5.3m, more than double the £2.5m it earned in Q4 FY2003. Excluding one-off charges and other special items, the company earned £13.5m, up from £8.9m in the year-ago quarter, but down on last quarter's £13.7m.

Gross margins for the quarter reached 28 per cent, down from 30 per cent in the Q3 but up on Q4 FY2003's 22.4 per cent.

ARM quit the quarter with £128.8m in the bank, taking into account costs relating to the acquisition of Artisan and that company's own addition to the overall cash pile.